"There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them"
About this Quote
King’s line isn’t really about intelligence-gathering; it’s about drawing a moral border and daring the audience to cross it. “Too many” sets the stage as a demographic problem, not a criminal one. Then “sympathetic” does the crucial work: it’s a slippery category that can mean anything from material support for violence to unpopular speech, private grievances, or simply being Muslim in the wrong room at the wrong time. By refusing to define the term, the quote keeps its reach conveniently elastic.
The verb choices escalate fast. “Looking at them more carefully” sounds like bureaucratic prudence, a soft wrapper for surveillance. “Finding out how we can infiltrate them” drops the euphemism and introduces a policing fantasy: the state as undercover presence inside a vaguely described community of suspects. Infiltration presumes a coherent “them” with shared intent, turning ideology into an organization and sympathy into a security threat.
The subtext is political triage. It tells nervous voters: your unease is rational, and it’s government’s job to act on it. It also signals to potential dissenters that certain kinds of speech or association may invite scrutiny, a classic chilling effect. In the post-9/11 ecosystem of hearings, informants, and mosque surveillance, the quote fits a broader pattern: counterterror rhetoric that blurs the line between targeting violent plots and managing a population. The power of the sentence lies in that blur; it converts fear into permission.
The verb choices escalate fast. “Looking at them more carefully” sounds like bureaucratic prudence, a soft wrapper for surveillance. “Finding out how we can infiltrate them” drops the euphemism and introduces a policing fantasy: the state as undercover presence inside a vaguely described community of suspects. Infiltration presumes a coherent “them” with shared intent, turning ideology into an organization and sympathy into a security threat.
The subtext is political triage. It tells nervous voters: your unease is rational, and it’s government’s job to act on it. It also signals to potential dissenters that certain kinds of speech or association may invite scrutiny, a classic chilling effect. In the post-9/11 ecosystem of hearings, informants, and mosque surveillance, the quote fits a broader pattern: counterterror rhetoric that blurs the line between targeting violent plots and managing a population. The power of the sentence lies in that blur; it converts fear into permission.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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